Analog Gear News

Fellow vinyl lovers, prepare to be rocked like a hurricane. Austria-based manufacturer Pro-Ject recently announced the latest in their lineup of special editions turntables: the limited-edition Scorpions model. Its belt-driven design is based on Pro-Ject’s popular T2 turntable, but this version just might have Scorpions fans saying they can’t live without you, er, I mean, can’t live without it.

Followers of the legendary German hard-rock band will instantly recognize the table’s iconic Blackout cover artwork, a reproduction of a self-portrait painting by the inimitable Gottfried Helnwein, an artist who — like Pro-Ject — is also of Austrian origins. The Scorpions’ March 1982 LP that Helnwein’s artwork adorns still feels relevant in today’s turbulent times. (Footnote 1)

Beyond its main CNC-machined plinth’s image, the handmade-in-Europe turntable’s streamlined design has “no hollow spaces” to help control resonances whenever you crank up some Scorpions LPs and/or other rock, jazz, or classical vinyl — whatever music you’re into.

To further reduce resonances, the Pro-Ject Scorpions table’s solid plinth is equipped with isolating and vibration-absorbing feet — and, to keep things tidy, an acrylic dust cover mounts to adjustable hinges. An electronic speed switch (for 33⅓ and 45rpm) changes the rotational speeds of the “zero-resonance” 10mm-thick glass platter, and, if you decide to use it, the included felt mat as well. The main bearing deploys a hardened steel axle, and brass bushing for stability.

The Pro-Ject Scorpions turntable comes with a 9in aluminum tonearm that’s said to offer a low-friction bearing, and an integrated headshell to which a Pro-Ject Pick It 25A moving magnet (MM) cartridge — instead of the comparable T2 table’s usual Sumiko Rainier MM cart — comes pre-mounted and pre-aligned.

The table utilizes a user-adjustable, spring-based anti-skate system, according to Pro-Ject. The Scorpions model ships with its own 15V DC power supply, RCA cables, and a spindle adapter for 7in singles.

Basically, the Pro-Ject Scorpions turntable gives you all you need for dynamite LP playback, except for a phono preamp — but, of course, Pro-Ject makes those, too.

Finally, Pro-Ject’s limited-edition, artist collection series Scorpions turntable is expected to be shipping to dealers this month, and it will have an SRP of £629 / €649. Update, 02.02.2026: The U.S. SRP is $899.

For more about Pro-Ject, go here for the U.S., and here for the EU.
To find an authorized Pro-Ject dealer internationally, go here.

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Footnote 1: AP editor Mike Mettler adds: Blackout happens to be my personal favorite Scorpions album overall, so I’m glad the Pro-Ject artist collection series design team went with this LP’s still striking, forks-on-eyes self-portrait cover art by the aforementioned, Vienna-born Gottfried Helnwein as the basis for their plinth-adornment choice. For the record, the Scorpions’ Blackout LP was released in March 1982 on Harvest/EMI in the UK, and Mercury in the U.S. and Canada. In May 2023, BMG released a 180g edition of Blackout on clear vinyl, and that’s the version being show on the Pro-Ject Scorpions turntable seen all throughout this story.

Naturally, I pulled out my original 1982 copy of the Blackout LP (SRM-1-4039) — the Canadian pressing with the blue Mercury label (as seen above), not the concurrent U.S. edition with the “Phonogram skyscrapers” label imagery — to spin while editing Julie’s piece, and was happy to reconnect with the stereo separation on the album-opening title track’s guitar-riff intro (right channel to start, then countered to the left, then blended down the middle), Matthias Jabs’ commanding guitar solo, and vocalist Klaus Meine’s repeated, manic “Oh yeah!” until the final glass break.

The songs that follow the title track on Side 1 — “Can’t Live Without You” (Track 2) and “No One Like You”(Track 3) — foreshadow not only where the Scorps would go with their massive followup Mercury LP, February 1984’s Love at First Sting (which includes “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” “Still Loving You,” and “Big City Nights”), but also where power ballads and rock-chorus singalongs would go as the ’80s continued to unfold. If you happen to have the Blackout LP in your collection, cue up the turgid churn-burner “China White” (Side 2, Track 3) to hear a band firing on all cylinders.